everything is connected

I was born in Higuito, San José, Costa Rica. A working class neighborhood in the south of the city. When I was 14 years old I dropped out of high school to work and play drums for a living, and although it didn't workout, I ended up going through a few different jobs that started shaping my design career without realizing it at the time.

I got my first formal job in a natural products manufacturer at the age of 15, one of my tasks was to pickup the trash of the offices once a week, (and I really hated that), but one of those days, I met the designer of the company and asked design the logo of my first rock band, which I eventually ended up redesigning myself. working on logo design and one of the logos I made connected me with four events that changed my life: My first trip to Europe, being able to live in Russia, my first contact with digital products, and the valuable lesson of building meaningful relationships.

How my life changed

In 2010, I decided to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I also learned some basics about logos and graphic design, and I started working. I used to design cheap logos for friends. One of those friends recommended me with his boss, who was creating an app and needed a logo for his brand. I designed the logo, he liked it. and a few months later he asked me to work on some icons for the app UI (I had no idea what a UI was). The app was called “Eyewiz”.

In 2014, after several months of hard work and always learning by myself, I had a life-changing experience when I travel to Dublin, Ireland to attend the Web Summit, the plan was to launch “Eyewiz”, the first Startup project I worked with. A few months later, I was asked to leave everything in my country for an opportunity to work with Eyewiz in Belgorod, Russia. Even with a lack of formal design education and very limited knowledge of UX and products, that experience opened my eyes to a new world and definitely changed my life.

Eventually, I came across “UX”, which was something entirely new in my country around 2015.

My perception of design

I'm a practical designer and I believe a complex methodical process doesn't guarantee success, I believe in flexibility, collaboration, and adaptability. I believe in putting something in people's hands, validating it, and observing whether it's something I should keep, throw away, or improve. User testing is my main source of research and user understanding.

I like to see design from a strategic standpoint, that solves a problem with a great idea, which will eventually provide value and a delightful experience for people.

I've treasured one important lesson: I cannot design a product by myself. Collaboration is key, and probably the most valuable aspect of it; is involving people without any prior knowledge about design in the process, from different backgrounds and fields of expertise, that makes a product stronger, and it brings new perspectives.

As a self-taught designer, sometimes I'd like to validate my process with a globally recognized product or company, and other times I may doubt whether I'm on the right path, yet I don't regret any of my decisions and am proud of my design journey so far.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this.

Jason Fallas.